


Echoes in Empty Rooms

by rareformofwolfsbane



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon Dialogue, Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4951210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rareformofwolfsbane/pseuds/rareformofwolfsbane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: AU - Person A is dead and Person B sees the dead. #angst #canon-divergence #episode related<br/>-<br/>He doesn't know when, or why he has this particular 'gift', only that he can see the dead as well as speak to them. Every living thing has a timer of when they die, and if they pass on before their time is up, Jim is sometimes lucky to bring them back.</p>
<p>"Don't ever come back to Gotham." </p>
<p>Oswald is one of those lucky few.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Echoes in Empty Rooms

**Author's Note:**

> (Basically how I ran with it, is that Fish - or her lackeys - kill Oswald before the docks scene and Harvey and Jim have to dispose of his body.)

"Why are we stopping here?"

Harvey's shoulders are drawn tight, answer caught between pinched lips as he lifts the trunk. Unmoving and pale is Oswald Cobblepot, bruised eyes and bloodied nose stark in contrast to the pallidness of his skin. He had been tossed in carelessly, left hand splayed loosely over his chest and legs akimbo.

Jim feels dread settle deep in his throat as Harvey stabs a finger towards the man.

"This is the fool that snitched to Montoya and Allen. Falcone wants you to walk him to the end of the pier and drop him in. Then everybody knows you're with the program."

Dread becomes anger and Jim takes a few steps forward, lip curling in defiance.

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'm s'posed to take you out, and drop you both." Jim closes his eyes briefly, taking a breath, hands curling into fists as he turns toward Oswald's still body. His jaw clenches. "And here's the thing Jim, I like you. I might not have the stomach to do it, but I'll try. Cause if I don't, someone will get to you quick enough. Then they're gonna get to me, and probably Barbara as well. Who know's what you told her."

Jim shakes his head. "I told her nothing."

"You think Falcone cares! Come on, you've killed people before-"

"That was war!"

"This is war! We're at war with scumbags like him! Sometimes in war you've gotta do a bad thing to do good, right? So do you do this bad thing, or do you die or maybe your girl dies? I might be lackadaisical, but that's not a tough call."

Jim's eyes drop to the cloth covered gun that Harvey tucks back into the inside of his coat, bile burning the back of his throat. He had been expected to shoot Oswald, had he been alive.

Suddenly furious, Jim grabs the lapels of Oswald's suit and yanks him out of the trunk, bending to lift him onto his shoulder and turns his back on Harvey.

Oswald's leg is turned sideways against his shoulder, feels the bones shifting wrongly beneath skin. Jim glances at Harvey, hoping there is a way out of this. The man minutely shakes his head and slaps his back, and Jim can feel the regret in that action alone.

So he starts walking.

"Please Mister Gordon." Jim's steps falter only slightly as the ghost of Oswald flickers in front of him, turning the motion into looking behind himself at Harvey, who came to lean against the front of the car. "Just let me live. I'll do whatever you say, I-I'll be your slave for life."

Jim turns back to the desperate shade, fingers tightening on its empty shell. Jim bares his teeth, feels the scab on his brow itch. Oswald's hands shake in front of him, pleading with Jim to stop, listen, his damaged leg dragging backwards.

"Listen to me, there's a war coming, a-a terrible war. Falcone is losing his grip and his rivals are hungry." The ghost is suddenly in his face and Jim almost recoils. "There will-there will be chaos. Rivers of blood in the streets, I know it."

Oswald flickers back a small distance, shaking fingers tapping his temple. "I-I can see it coming. I'm clever that way. And I can help you. I-I can be a spy-"

"Shut up!" They're at the end of the pier and Jim drops Oswald's body to his feet. The shade is facing the river, eyes desperate, shaking hands clutched together, begging.

"God sake have mercy."

He doesn't know when, or why he has this particular 'gift', only that he can see the dead as well as speak to them. Every living thing has a timer of when they die, and if they pass on before their time is up, Jim is sometimes lucky to bring them back.

"Don't ever come back to Gotham."

There is silence apart from the water lapping against the docks, the ghost gone. Oswald's eyes stir slowly beneath bruised eyelids and Jim swallows. Shoves.

Oswald is one of those lucky few.

 

* * *

_fin._

 


End file.
